Scandal on the gTLD scene — .xyz registrations may be inflated

The total number of generic top level domain registrations is nearing 1 million as new gTLDs launch daily. The new gTLD leaders, .club and .guru, are still holding tight to their positions. The top 10 on the leader board are:

Number

New domain

Total registrations

1

.club

64,579

2

.guru

60,216

3

.berlin

47,921

4

.photography

37,173

5

.xyz

36,335

6

.在线 (online)

32,083

7

.link

32,041

8

.email

31,687

9

.today

26,097

10

.tips

23,583

The question is, does everyone belong on the leader board?

The gTLD scene is not without scandal. The .xyz gTLD has more than 27,000 new registrations that list the name server as belonging to Network Solutions (NetSol) and its parent Web.com. Before the launch of .xyz this week, NetSol had only 16,790 domain name registrations among all new gTLDs to date. After .xyz launched, NetSol’s registration number sky rocketed to 44,476 .xyz registrations accounting for 62.25% of all NetSol registrations. What caused this giant spike in registrations?

Michael Berkens of thedomains.com has reported that .xyz second-level domains were complimentary to existing NetSol customers for one year. The giveaway was opt-out, meaning customers selected to receive this promotion would have had to open an email and click a link to prevent the registration of a domain name in .xyz that matches their current .com. Read a copy of the email. Because of the opt-out requirement, of those 27,000 new registrations within .xyz, it is very plausible that not many of the owners know about their ownership, which may well result in the second-level domains expiring after the complimentary one-year trial period.

As of June 5, NetSol held 72% of the .xyz registrations compared to the less expensive register GoDaddy.com, which holds 12% of the registrations. Compare this to .club, where the percentages are much more realistic: GoDaddy.com has a 33.23% share with 21,568 .club registrations compared with Network Solutions, which has only a .33% share with 211 registrations.

At least some of those 27,000 are likely genuine. However, considering the large spike in NetSol registrations compared with the other registrar statistics for other new gTLDs, most appear to be registered as a result of the promotion. It will be interesting to see if other new gTLDs use this tactic to increase numbers early on.

New gTLD Developments — will they shake the leader board up when they go live?

To date, of the 1,930 total applications submitted to ICANN, 1,739 remain active applications. Of those applications, 426 have signed Registry Agreements, 304 have been delegated to the root zone, and 232 have sunrise start dates.

New gTLDs to enter the root zone

ICANN has started June with a bang, delegating 23 new gTLDs since May 28. Newly delegated gTLDs since our last blog post are:

.website

.space

.degree

.press

.attorney

.hiv

.dentist

.market

.host

.software

.mortgage

.vet

.lawyer

.bio

.army

.navy

.gives

.republican

.tirol

.rehab

.hamburg

.nhk

.engineer

gTLDs on the horizon

The following gTLDs entered sunrise at the beginning of this month, or will in the next week. Do any peak your interest?

Following sunrise and landrush periods, new gTLDs move into the final stage, general availability. At this time anyone can register a second-level domain within the new gTLD subject to availability. The following gTLDs have completed these phases and are entering general availability this month:

gTLD

General availability

.xyz

06/02/14

.reviews

06/04/14

.jetzt

06/04/14

.futbol

06/04/14

.social

06/04/14

.tienda

06/04/14

.condos

06/04/14

.maison

06/04/14

.properties

06/04/14

.世界

06/05/14

.bid

06/05/14

.webcam

06/09/14

.trade

06/09/14

.events

06/11/14

.partners

06/11/14

.dating

06/11/14

.productions

06/11/14

If any of these gTLDs could be of value to you or your brand, or are of concern — remember that, as a registered agent of ICANN’s Trademark Clearinghouse, we can help develop and implement your gTLD strategy. For more information, read Porter Wright’s law alert about gTLDs.

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